TallGuyJohninBKK

You read wrong: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/risks-exposure.html "Masking is a critical public health tool for preventing spread of COVID-19, and it is important to remember that any mask is better than no mask. To protect yourself and others from COVID-19, CDC continues to recommend that you wear the most protective mask you can that fits well and that you will wear consistently. Masks and respirators are effective at reducing transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, when worn consistently and correctly." AND "Respirators are made to protect you by filtering the air and fitting closely on the face to filter out particles, including the virus that causes COVID-19. They can also contain droplets and particles you breathe, cough, or sneeze out so you do not spread them to others." https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/types-of-masks.html

Or more likely, they're just interested in protecting their health, and the health of those around them, from COVID.

Perhaps if the Thai government put the same degree of attention and effort into fighting road deaths here as they have COVID over the past couple years, more Thai motorcycle riders would be wearing helmets. It's not an either or proposition. Ideally, they'd be pushing safety on BOTH issues.

The total "official" number of COVID deaths worldwide is reported as 6.5 million. But multiple studies from different sources have estimated the real number at between 15 and 20 million worldwide. Also, the chart you're linking to above for all deaths worldwide shows the official total going from 58 million pre-COVID in 2019 to 69 million for 2021 in the midst of COVID -- an increase of 11 million.

On what may be the Thai government's last day of publicly reporting daily COVID stats, the government reported that for Friday, Sept. 30: --Thailand had 839 new hospitalizations for the prior 24-hour period associated with COVID (dark orange part of the graphic below). (These days, they only count new daily COVID cases as those that involve new hospitalizations). --Thailand had 9 new deaths associated with COVID (ages 54 - 86), bringing the year's total to 11,066. (black portion of the graphic) --Thailand had 4,333 total patients hospitalized with COVID, including 480 in serious condition, and 263 of those requiring mechanical intubation in order to breath. (light blue portion of the graphic) https://www.facebook.com/informationcovid19/photos/a.106142991004034/655372496081078/?type=3 The above numbers for COVID cases, hospitalizations and deaths in Thailand are a lot better than they were earlier in the year. But it's pretty hard to look at the above stats and come to the conclusion that COVID is "over" in Thailand. Perhaps that's why the government doesn't plan to continue publicly reporting them any longer.... Seeing and understanding those stats every day, assuming you can understand their Thai language graphics, kind of messes up the new narrative. Especially since the last time they reported on actual all daily positive COVID tests some weeks back, not just those involving hospitalizations, they were running more than 30,000 per day. August 19, 2022 "COVID-19 infections in 44 of Thailand’s provinces, including Bangkok, have been increasing, with an average rate of 31,148 cases a day between August 7th and 13th, according to Spokesman for the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) Dr. Taweesin Visanuyothin." https://www.thaipbsworld.com/covid-infections-on-the-rise-in-44-provinces-over-30000-new-cases-a-day/ PS - English translation of the above graphic stats:

Yes, what was going on was LOTS of Australians were dying from COVID during the first half of 2022... more than most other different non-COVID causes. And vastly more than died from COVID in 2017-2019, needless to say. That all adds up to a ton of excess COVID deaths compared to past years that had none.

The above is a nice attempt at misleading with selected numbers and leaving out others. What your recap above doesn't include from the cited report is that doctor-certified COVID deaths in Australia totaled 5,292 for the Jan. to June 2022 period that is the focus of the report's comparisons, making it the 5th largest cause of death during that period, according to selected mortality causes chart in the report, and roughly double the number of deaths from diabetes for that period. And, since their baseline comparison period for the 2022 data is the years 2017-2019 plus 2021, they didn't do a baseline calculation change for COVID deaths, probably at least in part because COVID wasn't around back in their comparison years of 2017-2019. But, the growth in COVID deaths from basically 0 in those prior years to 5,292 for the first six months of 2022 is a LARGER number of deaths than all of the other category increases over baseline combined in the above chart. A chart in the same report also shows that COVID deaths in Australia continued to increase from March 2022 onward thru June 2022, which was entirely an Omicron variant period... you know... that variant that's nothing more than some sniffles, some folks here on the forum often argue. I can't tell with certainty from the way the report is written, but it at least appears that the 5,292 COVID deaths during the first half of 2022 account for a goodly share of the 13,524 total deaths above baseline that the report talks about for the first half of 2022. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/causes-death/provisional-mortality-statistics/jan-jun-2022

The fact that some people take face mask wearing to nonsense or pointless extremes doesn't change the underlying soundness of appropriate face mask wear in a time of COVID.

IMHO, it's always a BAD sign when the doctor is asking the patient what medicine they want to get for a particular malady. That said, I regularly ask the doctor WHY they're recommending this or that medicine, since on their own, they typically don't seem to feel the need to provide any explanation. Thai style medicine... The patient asks no questions. And the doctor doesn't expect any.

The Thai government/MoPH continue to "recommend" -- not require -- that people wear face masks when in crowded indoor spaces or places where ventilation is poor.... They also are continuing to recommend masks for people who are at high risk from COVID, such as the elderly, pregnant women and those who are immunocompromised. It has nothing to do with fear. It's merely following what long has been -- and continues to be -- sound public health recommendations in a time of COVID.

Maybe the locals aren't keeping up with the latest news from the government... And/or, perhaps some of them have decided to continue wearing masks regardless of the government largely ending the policy mandate for them. In my book, exercising common sense doesn't require a government mandate.

Widely available from the major drug store chains like Boots and Watson, both on their websites and in their store outlets...among other misc pharmacies.

And likewise from the latest MoPH update: Less than half of Thai school children ages 5-11 have thus far received even the basic two first COVID vaccine shots, and only 1.2% of them have received a third shot booster. Not to mention, barely half of the most at risk senior citizen population age 60 and above have received their third shot booster vaccine dose thus far that is important for protecting again COVID serious illness and death. https://www.facebook.com/informationcovid19/photos/a.106142991004034/655372509414410/?type=3

Funny, pretty much no one used to complain when school children and pretty much everyone else used to wear face masks to protect against the seasonal PM2.5 pollution that could get very bad in BKK, CM and elsewhere for weeks or months on end. But I guess COVID these days is "special," and fussy farangs really don't want to be reminded by having to see people wearing face masks that there's a virus still circulating around, and putting 800+ Thais per day into hospitals because of COVID. And a virus that has 480 people in Thailand currently hospitalized with severe COVID symptoms, including 263 of those requiring intubation just to breathe. From today's latest update by the Th MoPH: https://www.facebook.com/informationcovid19/photos/a.106142991004034/655372496081078/?type=3 Best not to think about it, right? And the Thai government certainly is trying to help in that direction by ceasing to publicly report daily COVID stats and lifting pretty much all restrictions. So it will be interesting to see what will happen when the inevitable NEXT COVID wave comes.

Those are pretty much vague generalizations. Let's be specific about it: For people in the U.S. age 50 and above, who tend to be the high risk group by age, the CDC says as of late July during the Omicron period, the unvaccinated had a 12 times greater risk of dying from COVID than those with two original vaccinations plus two or more booster doses. That works out to per capita weekly death rates during Omicron of 0.68 per 100,000 population for the boosted vs. 7.73 per 100,000 population for the unvaccinated, as per the chart below: And, among all people age 6 months and older, the unvaccinated had a 5 times greater risk of dying from COVID than those with two original vaccinations. For the end of July, the weekly death risk was 0.37 per 100,000 population for those with two original vaccine doses, vs 2.14 per 100,000 population for the unvaccinated. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#rates-by-vaccine-status As someone age 50+, I'll take the tiny fully vaccinated and boosted death odds any day over the not so tiny unvaccinated death odds, thank you! BTW, for a disease that some here claim is harmless, Omicron COVID in the U.S. currently is causing almost 4,000 daily new hospitalizations and an average of about 350 daily deaths. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/index.html

I've taken the route 166 express bus multiple times from BKK CW Immigration to its end point at Victory Monument. It's an easy, pleasant and inexpensive trip. The express buses returning to VM typically are air conditioned, and usually not busy/crowded, especially midday if you're returning from an early morning visit to Immigration. One downside, as best as I can tell, is the headway times tend to be a bit long, like 30 minutes or more... Meaning potentially in the time you're waiting, you already could have taken a taxi back to either the Mochit or Wat Pra Sri Mahathat BTS Green Line stations. On the flip side, I've never taken the 166 FROM Victory Monument to Immigration, as it's a bit of a long hike from the Victory Monument BTS station to where the 166 bus stops at VM, and the location of its stop can be a bit confusing with all the different bus lanes/stations going on there. And, as best as I recall, from VM, you also have to sure to take the correct flavor of 166 bus, the one that heads for and stops at Immigration, as opposed to the one that doesn't and heads off to another area... Muang Thong Thani, I think. The purple line below shows the outbound route for the 166 line, and how it diverges at the north end of its route. https://www.transitbangkok.com/lines/bangkok-bus-line/166

Probably because a lot of children have not been fully vaccinated thus far. And while serious illness from Omicron in children is relatively rare, there can be cases in children that can be very serious.

FWIW, I went back to the Tops Club Android app yesterday figuring after they had officially opened, that its previously sparse inventory listing -- lacking all fresh food items -- might have been filled out. Wrong! As of yesterday, their Android app for ordering had zero fresh or frozen food items listed, no meats, no bakery, no veggies, no fruits, etc. What's the point of offering "free delivery" to paying membership holders if you can't remotely order most of what they're selling?

From the same cited article: "However, he added that the ministry still highly encourages the use of face masks for those who are exhibiting influenza-like symptoms; high-risk individuals like the elderly, those with chronic diseases, those with low immunity and pregnant women; as well as those travelling with high-risk individuals like the elderly and children."

Correct me if I'm wrong...but as best as I can tell, in picking Central Rama II as the location for their first Tops Club warehouse, they've picked a location with absolutely no good or close connection to BKK's rail mass transit system.

Interesting, hour-long video tour of the place here on YT... Seems to give you a pretty good idea of the range of things they are selling there. It does LOOK a lot like a Costco on the inside, from what I'm seeing in the video... But prices and selection are a different matter. The fresh and frozen food part of the video seems to start at about the 44 minute mark... and I spotted some Kirkland (Costco brand) frozen ground sirloin patties in the freezer case along the way.

Just what I've been waiting to find....in all my years in Thailand. Thank you, Tops Club! ???? About 7000 baht, if memory serves.

I seriously doubt the new Tops Club is going to come close to this... But Thailand really needs a grocery warehouse with the breadth of a place like this in Vietnam, which is neither a Costco nor a Sam's Club, despite the title of the video.... Apparently, this one is something called MM Mega Market in VN. https://mmvietnam.com/en/

That's a curious place... Don't see any mention on the Costco corporate website, or elsewhere, of them having any official Costco presence in Vietnam. "578 locations in 46 U.S. States & Puerto Rico; 107 locations in nine Canadian provinces; 29 locations in the United Kingdom; 14 locations in Taiwan; 17 locations in Korea; 31 locations in Japan; 13 locations in Australia; 40 locations in Mexico; 4 locations in Spain; 1 location in Iceland; 2 locations in France; 2 locations in China" https://investor.costco.com/corporate-profile-2 Nor do I see any indication the Vietnam operation above is part of Central Retail Group. But did see some mention on social media of there being a fake Costco operation in Vietnam.